The father of a 19-year-old Indian student who disappeared after being ejected from a Manchester nightclub on New Year's Eve has arrived in the city from Bengaluru to help search for his missing son. Souvik Pal, a scholarship student at Manchester Metropolitan university, has not been seen since being asked to leave the Warehouse Project in Trafford just before 11pm.

Police divers have halted a search of the Manchester Ship Canal near the club. At a press conference on Tuesday his father, Santanu Pal, appealed to anyone who may have information to call the police.

Santanu said he last spoke to his son on New Year's Eve, at midnight Indian time, when he sounded "joyous". His family told him to be careful and stay with his friends. Souvik, an engineer, had moved several times with his family around India, but this is the first time he had been away from home. He was awarded a vice-chancellor's scholarship to study product design in Manchester, and started his course last September.

Souvik Pal. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Detective Chief Inspector Colin Larkin said: "We are looking to bring him safely to his family. I appeal to anybody who may have been inside the club or in the areas outside at the time to contact the police."

The detective said that Souvik's eviction from the nightclub was a misunderstanding, and there was no indication that he was misbehaving or drunk.

He said that racism was not a factor in the disappearance. But a representative of the Indian Association of Manchester, a local community group, said: "How can you categorically say that there was no racism?" He said he had interviewed friends who were with Souvik who told him: "We feel [Souvik] was unjustly evicted from the Warehouse Project and was given no opportunity to notify anyone that he had to leave ."

Souvik is 5ft 7in and slim. He has an Indian accent and a scar on the right side of his forehead. He was last seen wearing a pale denim long-sleeved shirt, grey chino trousers and navy leather boots.

Meanwhile, the search continues for another man missing in Manchester since leaving a New Year's Eve party. Police on Tuesday released a photo of 22-year-old Michael Simpson, taken a few hours before he disappeared in the early hours of New Year's Day near Stockport Road West in Bredbury. His disappearance is unconnected with that of Souvik.Simpson left a party at a friend's house after 2am. He has not been heard of since he texted his girlfriend at around 2.30am, saying he had left the party and was lost.

Simpson is slim, 5ft 6in tall, with light brown hair, blue eyes and black-framed glasses. He was last seen wearing a black V-neck jumper, blue jeans and white trainers.